Stephen Galloway’s The Cellist of Sarajevo (2008)
Discussion questions
1. What effect does the constant confrontation of war and occupation have on each
[character]? Does suffering, violence and loss ever become normalized for them? What is
it like to live in this kind of anarchy—especially when symbols of peace and power have
been extinguished? And what does it mean to have the color, beauty, and vibrancy of
music and flowers (left behind for the cellist) introduced?
2. How has life changed in the city since the arrival of the men on the hills? What
resources, both physical and mental, are the four characters in the book using to help
them survive? What is involved in day-to-day living? How would you fare under these
same conditions—and what would be your greatest challenges?
3. Each chapter in the novel is told through the lens of one of the four main characters
(including the cellist) in the story. How does this strategy [affect] our reading? How
might our experience be different if told in first person? If it were told in a more
journalistic way?
4. How do each of the [characters] (Arrow, Dragan, Kenan) view their fellow citizens?
How do they each look upon their struggles, choices, and their attitudes? What makes
them not give up on each other? Does Kenan’s classification of the “three types of
people” [p 163] ring true to you?
5. Do you think the author intends for the reader to be sympathetic to Arrow’s life and
career trajectory? What prevents (or encourages) us from fully engaging, trusting,
relating to her? Do you think war forces everyone to compromise something in
themselves—their attitude, their moral compass?
6. What are the goals of “the men on the hill”? What exactly is it they are trying to
destroy? What do they come to represent for the main characters—and what separates
them from Arrow?
7. In the beginning of the novel, Dragan is said to avoid his friends and coworkers
because “the destruction of the living is too much for him,” Arrow assumes a new name
to distance herself from her role as a sniper, and Kenan takes refuge in his new ritual of
obtaining water for his family. How have the three used rituals as ways to cope with their
fear of what is happening in the city? At the end of the book, do you feel that their
experiences of the cellist’s performances have changed how they deal with the danger
around them? In what way?
8. What force does music have upon the war torn state—and what powers does it have
over the lives of the characters? (For Kenan, Arrow, and Dragan? For the cellist himself?)
Do you find yourself relating to the power of the cellist’s performances? Are there
parallel moments in your life where you also experienced such sudden awakening, or
realization?
9. “Sarajevo was a great city for walking.” How does the mapping of the landscape—the
physical and psychic layout of the city—affect the narrative? How does our intimacy
with this map affect our experience of the story?
10. In one of his early chapters, Kenan is particularly disturbed by the interruption and
shelled state of the tram’s service (“The war will not be over until the trams run again”)
and the destruction of the National Library (“the most visible manifestation of a society
he was proud of”)—representing for him basic civilization. What signs, services, and
signals do you consider pillars of civilization?
11. Why do you think the sniper avoids taking his shot at the cellist—especially when he
has such ample opportunity?
12. Why does Dragan take such drastic measures to prevent the dead man’s body from
being filmed by the journalist? What does the author suggest through this as a lesson for
the living? What are we to do to prevent the horror of war from becoming commonplace,
something to tune our televisions out from?
13. Were you surprised by Arrow’s final act of protest? Do you think she was ultimately
able to reclaim herself, her identity? Do you think she succeeded
Source: http://www.princetonbookreview.com/book_pages/discussion/cellist-ofsarajevo.php